


And You Can't Say No To Baby Blue Eyes

by Bored_Paladin07



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up Together, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24990061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bored_Paladin07/pseuds/Bored_Paladin07
Summary: If Shane had known that his best friend would have left his life when he was eighteen, he would have begged him to stay. If Shane had known that he would return ten years later, now witnessing the trash human being he had become, he would have begged him never to return.
Relationships: Shane (Stardew Valley)/Original Character(s), Shane/Male Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	1. Spring Year One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone, this will be my very first fanfic ever! It's been super fun to write so far. All comments and suggestions are welcomed and loved. I hope you enjoy the fic and I hope you love the Chicken Man as much as I do. 
> 
> Much Love  
> Bored Paladin

I remember the first time I saw him. I was eight, and he was six. He was just as small and frail then as he was now, just as tired-looking too. One of the first things I noticed about him was those dark rings around his eyes, so dark not even his olive skin could hide them.

It led me to notice the second thing about him. He stood there cowering behind his grandpa's leg, peeking out at me with the biggest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I gave him an awkward smile (Marnie made me promise to be polite), and those eyes lit up like they held the midday sun. They might as well have because I melted right there and gave him a smile that was a bit more genuine.

He stepped out from behind the large man’s legs and carefully made his way toward me, eyes never leaving mine, reading me, watching my every move with caution and care. I suppose it was fine because I couldn’t help but watch him. His movements were twitchy but calculated like every step was thought out, but his body refused to properly cooperate, urging him to run away or to curl into himself and panic. Everything about him was weird, but he looked like he was trying so hard, as if this was the scariest thing he has ever done, and yet he refused to back down. So I decided to give him a break.

“Um hi,’ he jumped back at the sound of my voice and began staring at his hands, finally breaking eye contact. He rang his fingers and began picking at his nails, almost in a frenzy. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. Yeah, the kid seemed sweet, but he also seemed like a real wussy. But Marnie had said something about him being sick before or something, and now he’s just getting used to things. And she promised me he wasn’t contagious, so I had to promise to be nice.

“Sooo yeah, okay, I’m Shane, and it’s uh… nice to meet you,” man this was weird, this kid was weird. I guess I should shake his hand or something. I don’t know, is that too much? Who am I kidding this whole situation is too much, I just wanted to go inside and play my game and watch cartoons, was that too much to ask for?

I held out my hand to shake his, and he began to twitch even more. He stared at it for a moment, looking at it like it had three extra fingers and a set of teeth, before gently and ever so cautiously holding out both of his hands to hold mine. This weird-ass little kid was holding my hand. He’s not even shaking it; he’s not even moving. He’s just holding my outstretched hand like I would hold one of the baby chicks, and once again, staring at me.

This is too much for me, is it too late to back out of this. Maybe I can tell Marnie that Alex asked me to come over to play his new grid ball game. Yaba, is this kid really making me think of putting up with Alex?

“I’m Kennan.” 

It was so quiet, so soft. Aren’t little kids supposed to be loud, full of playful energy, not jumping at their own shadow? He may not know exactly what, but he could sense the flashing warning signs in his head, telling him that something was clearly wrong. Shane didn’t know what could be so horrible to make someone scared like this, but it made him scared to just think about it. It made him want to run away from the kid, so whatever horrible thing it was couldn’t get him too. But he was supposed to be a big boy, a brave boy. Marnie had told him so, Marnie had also told him that he was kind, so he pushed all those bad feelings to the back of his head.

“Soooo,” Shane slipped his hand from Keenan’s loose grip, shoving it into the pocket of his hoodie,” do you like Power Rangers?”

\------------------------------------------------

We were on our third episode of Power Rangers; he had been quite pretty much the whole time, sometimes he would gasp at a fight scene, I think I even heard him laugh, once. But he was getting antsy now, bouncing up and down on his knees, scanning the toys lining the wall. Every once in a while, he would reach out to touch one, but would quickly retreat his hand back into his lap, glancing over at me to make sure I hadn’t seen. I had seen, all six times now. And I am now witnessing number seven as he reached for a Bop It, jerking his arm away before his hand could even graze it, Yaba this was too painful to watch.

“Know you can just play with it,” I wasn’t even looking at him, but I could just sense the awkwardness of him reaching for it,” You don’t really have to even ask you know, except my games,” he pointed over to the old council by the T.V.,” Don’t touch my games.”

He looked at Shane with a blank questioning look, as if he was deciding if he was playing some kind of cruel joke on him. He reached down, still glancing over at Shane like he might get jumped any minute, and finally, FINALLY, picked it up. Even then, he didn’t play with it, he just gently turned it over in his hands, inspecting it like it was the most incredible thing he’s ever seen.

“You going to play with it or-”

“What does it do,” the Bop It was thrust into Shane’s hands, and two bright blue eyes stared up at him expectantly. He almost found it funny, hasn’t said a word to me this whole time, shook like a lap dog since he got here, but he got to hold a Bop It, and now he’s practically radiating enthusiasm, makes sense.

“Well it’s a reflex game, you press the middle button to start it, and from there you do what it tells you what to do with the other little doodads, and you're good to go.”

“Show me.”

“Huh.”

“Show me how it works.”

“Well, I kinda just wanted to-”

“Please…”

Shane didn’t know that eyes could get that big, or that he would be weak against them. He was pretty sure nothing had time to body snatch the kid in the .5 seconds he had looked away, but he wasn’t really convinced it was the same person. 

He gave an exaggerated sigh, but pressed down the middle button, starting it up, after a few brief moments, there was a mechanical command, 

“PULL IT!’

“TWIST IT!”

“BOP IT!”

Keenan’s whole face seemed to light up with delight, the toys commands got faster and faster, and Shane raced to keep up, but eventually, there was a miss-step, and the toy announced GAME OVER.

“See not so hard now you try.”

There was no hesitation this time around, Keenan had snatched the toy from his hand starting it up like before. He jittered in his seat a bit before standing up. The game began, and he seemed to use his whole body when he played, jumping and spinning erratically, movements speeding up as the game did. Shane no longer had to wonder where that playful energy was because apparently, it had just been in there, just underneath the surface this whole time. And that smile may not have hidden the tired eyes, but it was bright and contagious.

The toy announced GAME OVER, and Keenan’s continued to bounce with excitement. He looked back over at the toys lining the walls before asking, “Is there anything else we can play with?’

He turned back to Shane still beaming, and Shane couldn’t find it in him to say no, honestly he really didn’t think he wanted to. 

\-----------------------------------

Marnie held the now lukewarm cup of tea loosely in her grip, she eyed the half-empty cup, not wanting to reach the gaze of the man that sat across from her. She didn’t know what to say, what could she say? Nothing could make what Jude told her any better, nothing she could say that would change what happened to that little boy. But she could feel his eyes on her, blue eyes dulled and foggy from age; if she remembered right, they were once the most beautiful shade of blue, just like the little boy he brought with him today. 

The quiet was beginning to be too much, so she decided to break it with the only question on her mind that she felt comfortable asking, “So, how long were you thinking of staying?”

“Just until I get the farmhouse in a livable condition again. I haven’t stayed there for some years now, and it’s looking a bit ruff. Keenan deserves to live in a safe, clean environment. I just had to get him out of the city, away from all of it. It… it shouldn’t take more than a month, Marnie, I promise.”

Marnie hummed, and glazed back at Shane’s bedroom door, she understood of course, what it was like to be willing to do anything and everything to protect a child.

“Well then, the guest bedroom is yours, of course. Now let me see if I still have that old cot, Keenan will have to sleep in Shane’s room, I’m sure he won’t mind,” she got up from the table and made her way it the storage closet, “Well that’s not true, he’ll mind, but he’ll just have to get over it.”

“Marnie, thank you, thank you so much, but you’re sure?

“Of course, Jude, it will be good to have you back, and I’m sure Keenan will warm up to the town just wonderfully. Besides, now that you’re back, the town is bound to get a lot more lively,” pulling out the cot and some extra blankets she made her way towards what would now be the boys’ room, “We’ve missed you, Jude, I’ve missed you, and I know that Keenan is in good hands. Things will get better.”

She gave him a gentle smile, and he seemed to visibly relax, “Well, no use in continuing to put it off, I suppose it’s time to break it to the boys.”

\-----------------------------------

“You have to be cheating,” Monopoly Jr. sat in front of the both of them, they had been playing for the past hour, and things were looking bleak at best for Shane. He didn’t know why he thought Monopoly, the destroyer of friendships, was a good idea, but Keenan’s lucky streak was starting to annoy him.

“Am not! How would I even cheat? I barely know how to play.”

“I’m not sure, but you have to be. Are you sure you’ve never played before, I mean who’s never played Monopoly before?”

He got really quiet for a moment like he was mulling something over in his mind, “I never really had a lot to play with, except when I stayed over at Papa’s house. I never got to stay at Papa’s a lot, though.”

“How long are you supposed to be staying with him now?”

“Oh, Papa says that I’m gonna be staying with him for a while. I’ve been with him since I got out of the hospital, I was sick for a while, but I guess I’m better now. Mama is sick too, and that’s why Papa says I can’t see her.

Shane thought that was a lot to unpack, but at the same time, Keenan probably didn’t get to talk about these things with many people, so it was probably good for him. He felt bad that his mom was sick, though, but he was glad that he got better at least.

“What did you have? It must have been bad if you were in the hospital?”

“I don’t really know… I just know that it felt like I was sick for a long time. Papa says I was asleep most of the time in the hospital, but Mama wasn’t there when I woke up. She probably got sick, taking care of me. I hope she gets better soon, then she can come to stay in the cabin with me and Papa, and she can meet you and your Mama.”

It took Shane a second to process that last bit before he finally understood, “Oh Marnie’s not my mom, she’s my aunt. My mom and dad move a lot, so I live with Marnie now, it’s nice not having to get used to a new school every few months, and the kids around here are alright, I guess. Alex is whinny and Seb, Abby, and Sam tend to play together the most, not that I care, they’re babies. Emily is cool though,” his ears began to turn red, and he turned away, hoping the other didn’t notice.

“Do you think they’ll like me,” his voice was quiet again, and he was picking at his nails. You could see the nerves building up inside him, and tried to think of anything to stop him from shutting down again.

“Hey, of course, they’ll like you, and even if they didn’t, I like you, so you’ll have me at least. Heh, I know that a pretty shit deal, but it’s the only one I got,” man, I’ve got to work on comforting people.

Keenan snorted and then giggles, which turned into a laughing fit.

“Oh come on, I know I’m not much, but it’s not that funny.”  
Still laughing, only now laying on his side, he managed to choke out,” No, no, it’s not that *snort* you said shit.”

“Well, you just said shit too.” 

“Only because you said shit first.”

“Doesn’t mean you get to say shit.”

“I’ll say shit as much as I want.”

“Well, shit.”

“Shit.”

“Shit!”

“SHIT!

“SHIT!!!”

“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!”

At this point, the Monopoly game had been forgotten, and they were just chanting shit while lying on the floor when the door flew open to reveal a rather angry Marnie.

“What in Yaba’s name are you two doing! The room is trashed, and now you’re just shouting obscenities! Shane, what are you teaching him!”

“I didn’t teach him anything. He did it by himself!”

“Oh, I’m sure,” she huffed, “Nevermind, I wanted to tell you boys something, and I don’t have time to argue. Keenan, you know how your grandpa told you you were going to be staying at the cabin, right?”

Keenan nodded his head, he seemed to be in a bit of shock from Marnie and Shane’s yelling, but he’ll just have to get used to that. 

“Well, you see, the cabin isn’t in very good shape, it’s been a while since your grandpa had taken care of it, so it’s a little run down. It will be a little while until you’ll be able to live there, so you and your grandpa will be staying here for a bit. Just until everything is in working order again,” she turned to Shane, her face hardening a bit, and she set down the cot and blankets, “That means that he will be staying in your room, Shane, I expect you to be on your very best behavior.”

Without batting an eye, she turned back to face softening to how it was before, “I hope you feel at home here Kennan, I know it’s a lot to adjust to, but I know you’ll be happy here. Shane can be hard to get along with at times (Hey, I’m right here), but it seems you’ve already warmed up to one another, so I’m sure you two will get along just fine. I’m going to go make dinner now boys, if you could clean up the mess and set up the cot, I would appreciate it,” she smiled at the both of them (and gave Shane a little warning glare) before finally shutting the door behind her.

“Is Marnie always that scary?” Keenan, who looked more confused than actually frightened, looked over at Shane for answers.

“She’s not scary. She’s just full of hot air. I’m not sure what that really means, but I remember dad saying it once, and I think it fits her. She is really nice, sometimes we just like arguing.”

Shane got up from where they were still lying on the floor and looked around at the scattered toys they had gone through. It was a lot to do, but he had fun, so it made up for it, mostly. He didn’t know how he felt about having to live with Keenan, but the kid wasn’t half as weird as he had first thought, besides what could he really do even if he did have a problem with it.

“Well then, are you gonna just lay on the ground and look stupid or are you gonna get up and help me clean.”

Keenan brushed off the insult, instead cracking a smile that lit up his whole face, especially his eyes, “Can I clean and still look stupid?”

“With your natural talent, I’m positive you’ll find a way.”

He laughed a little and it made Shane feel a little funny but in a good way. Maybe having him around won’t be half bad.


	2. Year One: The Bad Egg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello I promise to edit this later, I'm tired and I made myself finish this. Thank you, feedback is loved and appreciated.
> 
> I would also like to give a rundown on everyone's ages. Birthdays and such are still in the same season, and I tried to do the best that I could.
> 
> Shane 8  
> Keenan 6  
> Alex 7  
> Seb 6  
> Sam 5  
> Abigal 6  
> Emily 10  
> Haley 7  
> Penny 6  
> Maru 2
> 
> Jude 50  
> Marnie 38  
> Lewis 55  
> Pam 39  
> Kent 25  
> Jodi 24  
> Pierre 30  
> Caroline 31  
> Gus 40  
> Demetris 26  
> Robin 26  
> Willy 46  
> George 68  
> Evelyn 63  
> Linus 48  
> Wizard 40  
> Clint Sr. 57  
> (Clint is 23 currently)

“Okay boys we’re heading into town,” the house was silent, the normally loud boys having gone quiet, “Well I’m not talking to myself, come on let’s go!”

Still silence, the house the quietest it’s been in a week. The two of them having yelled, played, fought, and laughed non-stop since practically the moment they were put together. Marnie, who was normally elated in both boys’ change, did get a little annoyed at times. Sure Keenan seemed to be coming out of his shell, and Shane seemed overall less of a sourpuss, but there’s only so much one woman can take. Plus she was pretty sure they were learning how to read the other’s mind, which could only lead to trouble. She better get them out and about and around other people before anything came of it.

“Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to go myself. Such a shame too, Gus told me that pepper poppers were on the menu today.”

Those must have been the magic words, because not a moment later the sink cabinet was kicked open and out stumbled Shane pulling an also stumbling Keenan, “HURRY UP KEENAN! We got to get there while Gus still has them, they sell out fast. Marnie, you told him to save us some, right?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know, must have slipped my mind.”

“Come on Keenan let’s go, let’s go. Get your shoes, we don’t have time!”

“What’s a pepper popper?”

“Marnie he doesn’t even know what a pepper popper is, if we don’t get him to the pub stat, he may never get to understand what he has been missing.”

“Shane, Gus makes them nearly every week, if they’re out we can just pick some up at the store.”

“Marnie no, just no. This is a serious situation, Keenan has a gaping hole in his life that he doesn’t even know is there. This could be life or death.”

“I doubt it’s that drastic.”

“Well, I’m not taking any chances. Let’s go, Keenan.”

And with that both boys dashed out the door, Keenan muttering that Shane had yet to explain what a pepper popper was. With a click of the tongue and a roll of her eyes, Marnie followed, shutting the door behind her.

\-----------------------------------

They were about another half mile from town, the boys had been chattering about this and that the whole time, and we’re currently on the subject of school. With spring break being over Shane would be going back to school on Monday, and once his transfer went through Keenan would be too, soon after.

“You’ll love Mrs. Bellenorth, everyone does, I wish she could be my teacher but I guess she can only teach 1st and 2nd, so you’ll have her for next year too. I’m out of luck because I have Mrs. Eetz, she’s the 3rd and 4th-grade teacher,” Shane peeked back to see whether or not Marnie was paying attention, once he saw that she was going over her shopping list, gave a smug smile before leaning into the smaller boys ear, “Her personality is so shitty, at she actually started to smell like it.”

Keenan gave a delighted snort, and began a silent and breathless laugh, leaning on Shane for support as they walked. After catching his breath, he looked up at Shane warmly, still leaning on his arm, “Is that why you always smell like shit Shane?”

First of all what a little asshole, Shane's eyes widened with his smile and he gave of a shriek, “You jerk, who’s teaching you these things!” He knew very well who was teaching him those things, but he was allowed to feign ignorance.

Without hesitation he swept at the small boy’s leg causing him to stumble, after catching himself, Keenan retaliated with an elbow to the gut. Soon the two were hitting and smacking at one another, all while in a fit of giggles.

“WOULD YOU BOYS CUT IT OUT!” Marnie must have been paying attention again because she shoved herself between the two grabbing each by the hand and pulling them along, “Honestly I am NOT finding a way to the next town over just because one of you gave the other a broken nose. I’m sure the Wenyo Village’s hospital has enough on their hands without the help of you two.”

“Awww come on Marnie, I wasn’t gonna break his nose, just ruff him up a bit, and you wouldn’t dream of hurting me, would you Keenan?” Shane gave Keenan an over dramatic batting of the eyelashes, a goofy grin stretching across his face.

Keenan barely gave him a tired half glance before looking back up and Marnie, “How mad would you get if I broke his nose?”

“HEY!”

“Probably not as mad as I should.”

“I AM RIGHT HERE!”

\------------------------------------

They had made their way into town and in front of Pierre’s before Marnie had let go of the boy's hands. She would have been more annoyed at the whole fiasco, but Keenan had given her hand a small squeeze and a warm smile before letting go, and her heart had melted, just a bit.

“Boths of you will behave, do you understand. I’m placing my order and grabbing what we need. I shouldn’t be more than an hour. It is 11:30 right now, so meet me at the Saloon at 12:30 okay.”

Without another word Shane bolted toward the playground, yelling a half hearted okay behind him, as Keenan started after him. Once there they made for the swings, trying to see who was able to get the highest.

“After we get something to eat, we can see about going to the lake to go swimming, maybe even fishing if I can find the old rods in the shed. We don’t have much time until school starts, so I want to get as much done as possible. I wish we could be in the same class, then I wouldn’t have to deal with Eezt on my own at least.”  
“We’ll still see each other at recess, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know, usually the younger kids have a separate recess. I might get to see you sometimes though, and I’ll always see you whenever we’re home right.”

Keenan had stopped swinging, and stared off into the distance blankly. This past week, Shane had seen him get like this a few times, where he entered moments of deep thought, and the world around him seemed to disappear. Shane had learned it was best to just let him think things through, and not bother him for the moment. After a moment or so, life seemed to spark back into his eyes, but the blank look was then replaced with one of distress, and he looked over at Shane with tears filling his eyes, Shane hated seeing him cry.

“Hey, hey, come on Keenan. Keenan what’s wrong, it’s okay. Don’t cry, don’t cry okay,” his voice was barely a whisper, and he reached out for the other boy, and the other took his hand, holding it as tightly as he possibly could., “Keenan, what’s wrong?”

Keenan shook his head, tears staining his cheeks, but he gave Shane’s hand a squeeze and began fighting for breath in between sobs.

“Keenan I can’t help if you don-”

“What happens when I don’t live with you? What happens when Papa fixes the cabin, and I go and live there?”

Oh, Shane hadn’t thought about that. Keenan and Papa Jude’s peresance just seemed so normal now, even if they had only been there for a short while. It was hard for Shane to imagine going back to before, not that before was bad. Living with Marnie was great, but things just seemed livelier now, happier. But,

“It’s not like you're going to be far away, you're going to be right up the road. You can come to my house everyday after school, and spend the night whenever you’d like. We can even explore the farm, I’m sure Papa Jude wouldn’t mind.”

Keenan seemed to calm a bit, but his crying had persisted, “You, won’t forget about me right, when you go to school. What about all your other friends, you won’t stop spending time with me now that you get to see them right?”

The question had taken Shane aback. Friends at school? Sure there were people he was nice to or played with, but not one that he went out of his way to be around. Shane was the newest kid before Keenan arrived, and though it made him popular at first, that had quickly died down. Did Shane have friends? ALex? No, no, Shane could barely tolerate that spaz on a good day. Maybe Emily, but everyone was friends with Emily, so she hardly counted.

“Keenan, you’re my best friend, of course I’m not going to stop spending time with you. Out of all the people here, you suck the least, so I gotta keep you, yeah?”

Keenan, gave a small smile, wiping the reamurging tears from his eyes. He rubbed his thumb along Shane’s knuckle, swirling around each one, and Shane let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding in. I closed his eyes enjoying the now calm.

“Out of all the people I know, your still second best,” Shane whipped his head to look at the smaller boy, but the scowl that was forming on his face disappearing after seeing the gentle smile on the other, blue eyes looking at him with care, “But that’s okay, I’m hard to beat.”

Shane gave a snort, not wanting to validate what Keenan had said with a response. Was he right? Probably. Did he need to know that? Nah. instead Shane had decided to sit in comfortable silence, his hand still in Keenan’s. He gave the other a gentle squeeze before standing up and pulling the other along, “Common, if we’re not on time Marnie will have an aneurysm.”

“What’s that?”

“I dunno, I think it’s when your brain explodes or something.”

“Sounds like what happens when you hold in a fart for too long.”

“You know, you might be right.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------

The first week of school had come and gone, relatively painlessly, for Keenan at least.

“Shane, how on Earth did you get lunch detention already, it’s only been five days.”

Shane slumped in the kitchen chair, sticking his tongue out at Keenan who sat across from him, snickering, “Iiiiiittttsss nnnnoooootttt mmmmyyyyyy ffffaaauuulllltttt!!!! She could pick anyone to read! ANYONE! But not it’s me and the kid who stutters, over and over and over! Do you have ANY idea how agonizing it is, that kid doesn’t want to read! I DON’T WANNA READ! BUT NNNOOOOOO!”

“Just please, explain to me what exactly you did, I will judge from there whether or not you will be able to go to the Egg Hunt.”

“Marnie noooooo, let him got pllleeaaassseee. Shane and I have a better chance of winning if we’re both playing”

“Now Keenan,” Jude pulled out one of the chairs, sitting down with his morning coffee, “Let Marnie handle this okay, if Shane did something bad at school, he needs to face the consequences.” 

“All I did was read the page like she said.”

Marnie crossed her arms, glaring daggers down at him, “I don’t believe you.”

“Pfft fine, I’ll show you,” picking up the newspaper of the counter, Shane mockingly stood in attention and started to read, “ Woes from crow (question mark) Sounds like you need a scarecrow (exclamation point) Placing a scarecrow on your farm deters crows from a pretty good distance (what Ms. Eetz is always on) Make sure you-”

“SHANE!”

Marnie was red in the face, Jude covering his face with a mug in an attempt to hide the fact that he was laughing, and Keenan looking confused, knowing he was missing something but unsure of what exactly. 

“You are absolutely not going now,” the fury in her face was more than apparent, “You will not be rewarded for misbehavior! You can’t go a single week without acting out at school, Shane. I am constantly getting calls from your teacher and principle. I know you’re not a bad kid, but you need to learn to watch your mouth.”

Marnie took a breath and sat down at the table holding her head in her hands, “You are not going to the Egg Hunt today, Jude will take Keenan, but you are grounded to your room.”

It was quiet for a moment, before Shane got up, going to his room and slamming the door behind him. Marnie let out the breath she had been holding, and looked up smiling at Keenan, “You should go get ready dear, put on some clothes that you can play in, I’m sure Alex and Haley from your class will be there, and I know they will be excited to play with you.”

“That’s okay I’ll just stay here with Shane.”

“Keenan dear, no,” Jude had spoken soft but firmly, grabbing the attention of the boy from Manie, “Shane is in trouble, I know you were wanting to spend time with him today, but if we let him get away with it now, he is going to keep misbehaving.”

“But you thought what he said was funny, I saw you laughing.”

“W-well now, while that may or may not be true, just because something is funny doesn’t make it right, and though I’m sure that Shane was frustrated during class, this doesn’t mean that he can act up. Now how about you come to the Egg Hunt with your Papa, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you, and your Papa hasn’t gone in some years now.”

“Oh, okay,” Keenan seemed a bit downcast, but complied, leaving to the shared room to get dressed. 

Keenan shut the door behind him, looking over to the bed where Shane laid hidden under the blankets. He felt bad, leaving without Shane. Shane had been excited all week, talking about all the games and activities they could play, and what they could do with their winnings (because they were definitely winning that 1000g). But now all of that was crushed. Kennan knew he couldn’t win on his own, he had never won anything in his life. Now he was going to abandon and disappoint Shane in the same day. Would Shane forgive him? Would he still want to spend time with him? How could he do this to Shane? It was all his fault, this was all his fault…

(IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR-)

“Hey Keenan, what's wrong, you didn’t get in trouble too did you?”

Shane’s head had peaked out from under the blanket, his eyes red. Was he crying? Oh no, he made Shane cry…

“No,” his voice was week and he wasn’t sure if he could be heard so he shook his head, “No, I’m going with Papa, I’m… I’m sorry Shane,” his voice was cracking and hot tears rolled down his cheek, why did he have to cry? Why was he such a cry baby? Shane was only going to be more mad now, what is wrong with him!

“Key, hey… hey come on Key, it’s okay, I’m supposed to be the one that’s crying remember?” his voice was soft and he sat up on the bed, patting the empty space beside him. Keenan obediently made his way over to sit with Shane. He tried to relax, to hide his panic, but the stiffness of his body betrayed him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched, but looked over only to see the boy beside his with a patient smile on his face. Shane has always been so kind to him, so understanding, he didn’t understand what he did to deserve it.

“I messed up, and that’s on me. I get in trouble all the time so it’s really nothing big. All this means is that it’s up to you to try to win that prize now, think about it with that 1000g we could use it to buy a second controller, then I can beat you in Goldeneye,” Shane grinned and Keenan had finally allowed himself to smile a bit.

“Well what if I don’t win, I don’t know what I’m doing, and you were supposed to be there to help. Then we can’t get the controller and you’ll be mad and-”

“Woah, Keenan, no wait. Who said anything about being mad, I’m not going to be mad at you for loosing a game. Besides you probably won’t win anyway, apparently Abby has been winning since she was two, and with her two lackeys by her side, I don’t doubt that they’ll win again this year.”

“Then what was the point of us trying to win?”

“Well I just wanted to be able to play games with you, and I figured that this would be the easiest way to get the money. Now we’ll just have to go berry and onion picking, maybe find some leeks to sell off, or even go fishing. There’s plenty of ways for us to get the money Key, it’s not the end of the world,” Shane wrapped his arm around him, holding him in a half hug, “ You go have fun with Papa okay, don’t worry about me.”

Keenan gave a small nod, getting up and putting on his clothes before heading to the door, “Thank you Shane.”

“It’s no problem Keenan.”

\----------------------------------

Keenan has never done very well in large groups. School had been hard for him. Everyone wanted to talk to him, be around him, ask everything about him. There were so many people to remember, to try to keep an eye on, to try to understand. He was grateful for his teacher, she was as kind as Shane told him she was going to be, and seemed to understand how overwhelming it all was for him. Seating him closer to her desk, so classmates would be less likely to talk to him, she never called on him if his hand wasn’t up, and she was very patient with any questions that he had (it had been awhile since he had gone to school, but he was catching up). Eventually, the excitement of him being new seemed to die down quickly, and the other kids seemed to lose interest. Except for Alex…

“KEENAN!!!!”

The loud brash boy made his way through the crowd, grabbing Keenan by his arm and dragging him away from the safety of his grandpa, who smiled and waved at him as he witnessed his only grandson's kidnapping.

“Haley and Emily are this way. Where’s Shane? Is he coming? Did he get sick? Or did he just not bother because he knows he’s gonna lose to me this year? That’s right, Abby’s lucky streak is ending this year! I heard her dad tells her where all the eggs are hidden. Or maybe Sam and Sebastain just hand their’s over to her. Wouldn’t surprise me, Sebadtains is soooo in love with her,” Alex scrunched his face up and accompanied it with a gagging noise. Keenan’s head was spinning just trying to keep up with the boy whose mouth moved a mile a minute. He was loud, obnoxious, self important, clingy, and imposing. Keenan was beginning to wish he just broke a few plates so he could have just stayed home with Shane.

Alex was continuing to gossip, talking about whoever or whatever he possibly could, Keenan didn’t know how someone could talk so much but say so little. The thing was he was only the second worst gossip he knew, the first was his best friend, Haley-

“I was wondering what was taking you so long,” there she was, Medusa herself (he remembered how much Shane had laughed when he had made the comparison). On the outside Haley was like a painting. Her pigtails were perfect, held together by pink ribbons, each one carefully done. A pink Sunday dress hadn’t a single wrinkle, her blue kitten pumps hadn’t a speck of dirt. Nothing was out of place, and that was unsettling. But the most unsettling thing about her were her eyes, Haley had a glare that could turn you to stone, a glare that said, ‘don’t you dare make me go out of my way to put you in your place.’ And there were only two people who were never given that glare, who were graced with the softer, more charming side of Haley. Alex and-

“Hi you must be Keenan, I’m Haley’s sister Emily, Shane has told me all about you,” Keenan glazed toward the other voice and felt his whole body relaxed. A tall lean girl with mousy brown hair smiled down at him with warm eyes. Keenan would have never realized they were sisters if she hadn’t said. Where Haley looked put together, but cold; Emily’s radiated warmth and gave off the appearance of organized disaster, nothing she wore seemed to match, but completed each other at the sametime.

“H-hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

Haley rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Oh my Yaba, Emily. You got him to talk more in the first 3 seconds of knowing him then I did in the first three days.”

“Well maybe the Little-Miss-Snotty approach was bound to fail eventually.”

Haley’s faced flushed and her cheeks puffed up, “I am NOT snotty!”

Emily gave a small chuckle, resting her chin on her sisters head, “And would you look at that. She’s got a mean old temper to match.”  
The younger sister let out a screech and made a half hearted swip for the older one, “I’m telling mama!” With that she dashed off into the crowd, Emily laughing behind her, giving a small wave to the two boys as she left.

Keenan glazed over at the boy beside him, unsure of what to think about the brief encounter with the girls, “Are they… um… always like that.”

“Oh yeah, it’s kind of their thing. They’re never really mad at eachother, they just like to argue mostly.”

He thought back to the two people who also made a hobby of that back at home and nodded in understanding.

“Hey let’s get going the hunt is going to start soon, we can pool our eggs together and we’ll split the prize fifty-fifty,” the boy made a grab for his hand and he was being dragged along again, “Heck I’ll even give you the prize money as long as I’d to rub in Abby’s smarmy face that I won.”

“Wouldn’t you rather do the hunt with Haley, isn’t she your friend.”

Alex stopped in his tracks and turned, beaming at him, “Well you’re my friend too aren't you Keenan. You’re a bit quiet, but I figure if you seem fun enough. Besides Haley might be might best friend, no offence or nothing, but she’d drop dead before ever getting that dress dirty just to look for eggs. I should know, she told me this morning.”

Did Alex really think of him as his friend? Keenan had barely said two words to him, even actively avoiding him to Shane’s institance and the looming threat of Haley, who was almost always beside him. But even though Alex still seemed loud. Pushy. Imposing. So loud, how could someone be so loud? He still seemed… nice? In a well meaning way.

“Stop dragging your feet Keenan, we have eggs to find.”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

\-----------------------------------------------

“Shane can I come in?”  
There was only quiet on the other side of the door, Marnie gave another small knock on the door before letting herself in. The room was dim, the only light coming from the sun set outside, but she could still see the figure of the sleeping boy on the bed. She sat on the edge of the bed as quietly as she could, looking over her nephew. His eyes were red and puffy, he had clearly been crying. 

She gave off a sign, but began stroking the boy's hair. She wished she knew if she was doing the right thing, if she was doing right by him. He was so much like his father when he was a boy. Brash, impulsive, snarking. But at the same time he was so much more than that. She saw it every day how kind he was, how thoughtful he would be. He was the first one up in the morning to feed the animals that he loved so dearly. She never met a little boy to be so understanding about feelings, often asking if she was sad or upset, and listening if she wanted to talk. And she was still amazed about how he helped Keenan out of his shell, something she thought would be nearly impossible after everything he had gone through. But Shane understood pain, he may not know what Keenan had gone through, but he understood that Keenan was in pain too. 

No one told her parenting would be so hard. But no one told her that her brother would come to her one day with a nephew she didn’t even know. That he would tell her that he was tired of being a parent, and that it was either her or the system. The system destroyed her brother, the system that nearly destroyed her. No one needed to tell her that it would have destroyed the little boy infront of her. So she took him.

She didn’t know if she was doing things right, but she was trying to do things better. Better than what she had, better than what Shane had before. That's all she could be.

A small familiar hand touched hers, pulling her out of her thoughts, her nephew looking at her with a small tired smile. 

“Hey, I’m sorry I woke you up, I just wanted to check on you, dinner is ready if you’d like.”

“I’m fine, I’ll get some later, I’m.. just not hungry right now.”

“Are you still mad at me?”

“No I wasn’t mad at you, I know I shouldn’t talk like that. She… she just… what do I do to make people hate me Marnie?” tears welled up in his eyes and he clung to her hand like a life line.

Marnie scooped him up as quickly as she could into her arms, rocking him. Sobs shook his body as he cried into her shoulder, saying something she couldn’t understand, “Shane, honey, no one hates you. So are such sweet and kind little boy, and I promise that you are so so loved. I’m sorry about your teacher, I promise I will be talking to the school about it. But I couldn’t imagine anyone hating you.”

“BUT THEY DO! MOM AND DAD LEFT ME THEY HATED ME SO MUCH!”

“SHANE! You listen to me and you listen good. You are absolutely not at fault for any of their actions. Your parents made their own decisions that they were terrible ones. I know it’s hard to understand it, because I- I don’t even understand it Shane,” she was crying now, and she couldn’t stop, but she had to say it. It may not be the right thing, but it was the better thing to do,” I don’t understand how they could have left you. You are so good Shane. You have made my life so much happier. Every smile, every argument, every joke and laugh and goodmorning and goodnight, makes my life better. I know it’s hard, and I’m so sorry Shane. But I want you to know that I love you, and so does Papa Jude, and Keenan, and every single animal in that barn from those cows to the mayflies on the wall. You are so loved Shane,” she hugged him close to her, as his sobs turned to sniffles, as he finally stopped crying, as his body still shook like he was teetering on the edge of crying again. As his eyes grew heavy with exhaustion, and sleep began to overcome him.  
It was only when he was asleep that she let go, tucking him. And it was only when she made he way to the door when she heard a faint,”

“I love you too.”

\----------------------------------------

Jude laid down a tired Keenan down on the cot, who, though completely exhausted (from being dragged around all day) was only pretending to be asleep at the moment. As soon as Jude shut the bedroom door behind him, the boy had popped up and made his way to the bed on the other side of the room. He pushed Shane over, and made his way under the covers, waking up the other in the process.

“Was that completely necessary.”

“No but it was funny.”

Shane gave off an annoyed sign, but rolled over to face the other, eyes still heavy with sleep, “How the egg hunt go.”

“Oh, Alex and I teamed up, and then we lost.”

“Alex couldn’t find a blue chicken in a white room.”

“Couldn’t find any either, but Abby seemed to have found all of them. All though she was really upset when it turned out that the prize was a hat at not 1000g, so she gave me the hat. Then Haley told me it made me look like a hill billy and Emily and I did face paint. Then papa got gassy from eating so many eggs.”

“So all and all a good day.”

“I thought so.”

It was quiet for a moment, with only the sound of the frogs and the crickets outside, peaceful. It was hard being around some people, but Shane didn’t have that problem with Keenan. Things just seemed easier with him. Shane felt the others fingers lace into his and he gave the others hand a small squeeze.

“Are you feeling better? You’re not going to be in too much trouble are you.”

“No things are fine, I think.”

“Okay then,” the smaller boy yawned and nuzzled under the covers, eyes drifting closed,” Well we probably should get to sleep, we got school tomorrow, and after we gotta start berry picking.”

Shane hummed in respond, “Yeah, yeah. Goodnight Key.”

“Goodnight Shane.”

“Love you.”

“I love you too.”


End file.
